I felt bad. I hadn’t noticed Kyle had been absent from work. Though to be fair, it’s not like we were stuck to each other’s side. I had other things to think about than whether my work buddy was missing in action.
Kyle pulled up a chair and sat down. “The hacker thing, huh?” Why did it sound like he didn’t believe me? What was that about?
“Yeah. It’s a big deal, you know.”
“Is it?” Kyle sounded strange.
I put a hand to his forehead. “Were you sick? You’re looking a little pale, though I don’t know if that’s just your normal complexion,” I joked.
Kyle chuckled. “Touché, I guess.” He nudged me playfully in the shoulder. “No, I wasn’t sick.”
“Oh, playing hooky. You’re such a rebel, Kyle.” I rolled my eyes and he snorted.
“Just needed some time off. Working on a few things,” he answered vaguely.
“Anything you want to share?”
“Not really.” Kyle seemed off, but I dismissed it. On top of everything else, I honestly didn’t want to worry about Kyle too.
I rolled my chair back a few inches, forcing him to drop his hand. “Okay, then. So on to work news: This hacker into the company network is one smart cookie,” I told him. Kyle seemed unimpressed. He barely registered a response. He was being decidedly flat. Unemotional. Had my not realizing he was out of the office pissed him off?
I had never seen Kyle upset or angry about anything, so it was hard to know if that was how he was behaving.
“I’m sure he is.” Kyle picked up my phone and flipped it over in his hands. “So, what else has you so distracted? It can’t be just work. You don’t care about it enough.”
I took my phone from his hands and dropped it into my bag. “Why would anything else be distracting me?”
“How are things going with the guy you’re seeing?” Kyle flipped his hair out of his face. He looked tired. Like he hadn’t slept in days. Maybe he had been sick. His skin was waxy and his lips were dry. He clearly wasn’t taking care of himself very well.
I didn’t know much about his personal life. Whether he had friends he hung out with. What he did on the weekends. Maybe I should make more of a point to find out.
“What about you, Kyle? How are things with you?” I asked him. God, I sounded lame. I didn’t even know how to make small talk. Being a friend was hard work.
He looked surprised by my questions.
“Uh, fine. Good, actually.” He brightened a bit, becoming more animated. “Things are going to be really good soon, I hope.”
“You live with your parents still, right?”
Kyle ducked his head, obviously embarrassed by my question. “I’m going to move out. Probably by the end of the month,” he answered defensively.
“No, I didn’t mean that like it’s a bad thing. I just wanted to make sure you’re doing okay. That things are good with you,” I reassured him.
Kyle looked at me between strands of messy hair. “You want to know if I’m okay?”
I reached over and squeezed his arm quickly. Platonically. So there was no room for misinterpretation. “Of course. We’re friends. You just look like you could use some sleep. Those bags under your eyes would need to be checked in at the airport.”
Kyle laughed. “You know how it is when you’re working on stuff. You don’t always remember to sleep.”
“Yeah, I know how that goes. Why don’t we go and hit the cafeteria. Let me buy you a sandwich. It looks like you need it.”
“That’s cool of you, Hannah, but you don’t need to do that.”
I pulled him to his feet. “Come on. Let me. I can’t take staring at this computer anymore right now anyway.”
“Is he treating you right?” Kyle asked as we got into the elevator to go to the ground floor.
“Who?”
